-Policy Brief –
1- The Housing Crisis in Lebanon
Housing issues have always been a crucial subject for discussion in Lebanon. Nonetheless, the situation has worsened in recent decades for three main reasons: first, market speculation operating in the absence of fair housing policies; second, dependence on land as capital asset; and third, a political framework that celebrates the dominance of private interests in regulating the housing sector. It has become clear that the choices the state has always made have been to ignore the social value of housing and to consider it the responsibility of individuals, placing it under the control of market laws, to generate profits for large corporations.
Housing challenges have also increased in recent years with the arrival of hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees into Lebanon starting in 2011, the liberalization of old rents in 2014, and the suspension of subsidized housing loans for reasons related to the financial crisis and the protection of the national currency. Finally, with the fierce Israeli war, the housing crisis has entered a new phase, transcending material damage and intersecting profound social and economic changes and a massive displacement crisis, making sustainable solutions an urgent necessity.
As a result, the rate of arbitrary evictions has increased, along with the difficulty of finding affordable housing and a continuous deterioration in adequate housing and the built environment in general, especially in informal neighborhoods with high population density.
The proportion of people whose income allows them to live properly is shrinking daily, as suffering accumulates, and with it Lebanon’s housing crisis is intensifying.
Housing Crisis: the initial causes and resulting Challenges
The main drivers of the housing crisis are connected to the historical and current policy framework, which has fostered real estate speculation and led to the disruption and fragmentation of the structure of the housing sector in Lebanon, which can be summarized in three periods:
Since the independence of Lebanon in 1943, the Lebanese state has not established any public policy regarding the provision of affordable and adequate housing. The legislation that has been adopted consists of various laws to regulate rents, or came in response to disasters such as earthquakes or floods.
During the “Chehabi phase”, the state established one housing institution after the other, but in the absence of a comprehensive and integrated vision to achieve access to decent housing for all.
Finally, since the end of the Lebanese war, the state has resigned from its responsibility to take care of the right to housing, and a policy of credit for property has been instituted in the service of the interests of capital.
Thus, the pressing challenges related to securing adequate housing have emerged in the Lebanese context, most notably:
. The inability to afford the costs associated with housing;
. The insufficiency of available housing stock;
. The disruption of site-related socio-economic relations due to environmental pollution and the ongoing destruction of the urban fabric;
. Discrimination against non-Lebanese, disabled people, women, and other marginalized groups.
2- The right to housing
Thus, the priority of promoting the right to housing and the need to develop an emergency plan within a comprehensive policy for the realization of this right is more evident today than ever before; a policy that takes into account all segments of society, including families, workers, the elderly, women, disabled people, students, refugees and others.
Whereas the Lebanese State acceded to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in 1972, and since “the provision of housing for the citizens is a goal of constitutional value, the legislative and procedural authorities should draw up policies and establish laws to achieve it” – as stated by the Lebanese Constitutional Council in one of its decisions of 2014, after recognizing that the right to housing “is one of the basic constitutional rights based on international law” – we see the need to work toward the establishment of the right to housing, based on the following principles (developed collectively in the context of working within the “right to Housing Coalition” in 2020), rooted in the concepts of social value of land and spatial justice:
- We reject the rent-based economic model that raises land prices and hinders real development. Real estate speculation increases inflation and encourages quick earning rather than productive investment,
- We base our definition of the right to housing as a right to live in safety, peace and dignity, not just a shelter or a commodity. (Article 7 of general comment No. 4)
- “The right to housing should not be interpreted in a narrow or restrictive sense which equates it with, for example, the shelter provided by merely having a roof over one’s head or views shelter exclusively as a commodity. Rather it should be seen as the right to live somewhere in security, peace and dignity.”
- We commend the social production of urban housing, which takes into account the history of the city, the economic nucleus of traditional neighborhoods, the rights of residents to shared spaces and a livable environment for all segments of society,
- We believe that the right to housing is broader than the right to property, and it includes privacy, adequate space, security, lighting and ventilation, the right infrastructure, the right location at a reasonable cost, even for non-owners,
- We believe that excessive emphasis on individual property impedes the right to housing for the majority who are unable to own property, and reduces the possibilities for shared social solutions,
- We consider that the adoption of a unified housing right law (instead of fragmented laws) is the path toward a housing policy to be established to guarantee the right to housing for people of all categories,
- We warn against demographic discrimination between the rich and impoverished and between sects, and consider refugee camps and informal neighborhoods as an integral part of the cities that must be recognized and improved,
- We reject ill-considered solutions that do not take into account marginalized groups such as the elderly, low-income communities, disabled people and other nationalities,
- We highlight the responsibility of the state to secure adequate housing, based on the Housing Law 58/1965. Additionally, law 118/1977 specifies that the responsibility for securing adequate housing also rests with the municipal authorities,
- In the methodologies and in the approach to policy production and legislation, we emphasize the need to work in a participatory, systematic and multidisciplinary manner to promote social knowledge, interaction and communication in this regard.
3- Towards a comprehensive housing law
In view of fragmented and dispersed legislation that has had disastrous effects on the right to housing and access to land, there has been an increasing need for a comprehensive rights-based approach to housing from a social and spatial justice perspective, in line with the right to adequate housing as provided for in international human rights law. Achieving this approach requires a radical change in the housing strategy in Lebanon, which is supposed to take into account the basic housing challenges facing different social groups, draw lessons from the current shortcomings in housing policies, and form the basis for developing the directions and priorities of a comprehensive housing policy.
Building on all of this, Public Works is proposing a comprehensive draft law toward the right to housing as a radical approach to address the housing crisis and its accumulating trends over the previous decades.
The comprehensive right to housing law recognizes the need to provide for the different needs of a variety of social groups (the elderly, disabled people, students, workers, women, families, etc.), the ability to afford housing, in addition to focusing on the principle of spatial justice. Such a law is necessary in the process of drawing up our cities and their future formation. For this reason, it is also important that this law be prepared in a participatory approach, in which people not only have a contribution to its drafting, but also have the capacity to defend it.
The draft law drafting workshops will begin in May 2025 with “Legal Agenda” as the main legal partner, along with the consultation of a number of experts, specialists, community representatives and decision makers. The law will be drafted under four chapters:
- The role of the state in the regulation and control of housing
- The role of the state in providing affordable housing
- Protective measures against eviction and displacement
- The informal neighborhoods
The third phase will continue until May 2026, where three sessions will be held for each chapter, during which the orientations of the legal proposals will be discussed, and the final version of the legal proposal will be reviewed and confirmed.
4- Objectives and priorities of the law
Fair rent
Rent control is a restrictive tool designed to protect tenants from rent increases. Since rent is one of the largest household expenses, rent increases significantly affect household purchasing power. Rent control is one of the most attacked policies, on the grounds that it will damage the economic system and the urban fabric. Rent control has its own problems within the neoliberal economic system, but its usefulness increases if it comes within a comprehensive housing policy that includes social housing programs, vacancy taxes, the rehabilitation of the built environment, etc.
Rent control policies are implemented for a variety of reasons, including the provision and sustainability of affordable housing, protection against urban stratification, consumer protection, promotion of fair housing practices, reduction of homelessness, economic stability, attraction of labour power, social equality, the promotion of fair housing practices, and public health. To make this policy fair, inclusive and effective, it must be accompanied by a number of measures, including clear and transparent criteria, a comprehensive approach, regular revisions and adjustments, and income-based rent control.
Public housing projects
The Lebanese state has property allocated for public housing projects. Between 1962 and 1974, the State resorted to the establishment of social housing on land that it owned or expropriated, based on the Housing Act of 1962, which aimed to “facilitate housing for the needy and those with low and limited incomes”. The implementation of the Housing Act was entrusted to the Ministry of Housing and Cooperatives, which was subsequently created in 1973 and abolished in 2000.
Today, the importance of building and maintaining public housing, and working to increase its stock, is highlighted in order to realize the right to adequate housing. Public housing projects should be developed with a view to providing housing for groups in need of support and providing healthy and adequate living conditions for people, based on the points highlighted in the attached document.
Deterring evictions, harassment and threats
The obligation of states to refrain from and provide the necessary protection from forced evictions is an obligation that has arisen from several international legal instruments that safeguard the human right to adequate housing. International law provides a clear framework for how evictions permitted by domestic law should be recognized and applied. Considering that even where evictions are justified, it is imperative for the relevant authorities to ensure that evictions are carried out in conformity with international human rights law, all legal remedies should be available to those affected.
Accordingly, evacuation must comply with the provisions of local legislation, and pathways must be established to ensure that serious and constructive consultation is available between the parties concerned, that the affected parties are involved in the decision-making process, and that all affected persons are adequately informed so that they can make further housing arrangements in advance of the planned evacuation date. Additionally, evictions that result in people being displaced or losing one of their fundamental rights should also be prevented.
Deterring displacement
Homelessness is a serious violation of the right to housing, and displaced persons are considered to be among the most vulnerable whose right to housing is violated. Global definitions share that homelessness cannot be reduced to the physical deprivation of shelter, without taking into account the loss of social relationships and a sense of “belonging somewhere”, as well as the social exclusion experienced by people living in a situation of homelessness. Thus, homelessness also includes people living in temporary accommodation such as camps, and people living in inadequate and unsafe housing. In the Lebanese context, there is no official definition of homelessness, and the concept of homelessness is often mixed with street beggars. Homelessness is criminalized in the Lebanese Penal Code, and the Law on the Protection of Juveniles at Risk provides a superficial definition of juvenile homelessness, and municipal laws give mayors broad powers to combat street beggars and evacuate homeless people from public places.
First, a clear definition of homelessness appropriate to local conditions must be adopted, one that recognizes different and wide-ranging patterns of homelessness. In order to reduce and end homelessness, comprehensive strategies supported by strong political and institutional commitment, rights-based and intersectoral coordination must be developed and implemented to address structural causes and find long-term solutions, in consultation with and with the participation of homeless persons. It must also be ensured that every other decision and policy is consistent with the goal of eliminating homelessness and immediately halting any evictions that may lead to it.
Identifying informal areas and rehabilitating them
In 2018, the proportion of the population living in informal neighborhoods was estimated at 61.1% of the total urban population in Lebanon, which consists of a diverse mix of ownership and tenure conditions. In addition to the deterioration of the built environment and infrastructure in these areas, the greatest challenge today starts with the state avoiding its responsibility, at the time when informal neighborhoods need to benefit from integrated development programs, in line with the National Strategy for Social Development of 2011 (Ministry of Social Affairs). Thus, through a multi-sectoral, regional approach, the Lebanese authorities should develop interventions to gradually improve housing conditions in terms of viability, security of tenure, and diversity, improve the built environment that encompasses all types of public spaces, promote economic development and employment generation, and facilitate access to adequate infrastructure, facilities and services.
Thus, recommendations for dealing with informal areas should begin with the definition of these areas by the state and conducting studies and collecting data about them. Followed by a rehabilitation plan of the built environment and security of tenure, which can be achieved through the construction of additional housing, the provision of microfinance, the expansion and modernization of infrastructure, basic facilities and services. Such development programs should also be accompanied by awareness-raising and information campaigns among the population, owners and local authorities on the rights and obligations relating to the provision of housing. To make a real difference, it will be essential that these interventions be accompanied by legal shifts that will contribute to stability as many residents of informal areas are workers, foreign workers and refugees with limited rights to residency and work.
Reducing real estate speculation through taxation
The inefficiency of the fragmented tax system in Lebanon shows the absence of the concept of tax justice and any social dimension within state policies, with a clear bias toward those who accumulate wealth and property. This has been demonstrated by real estate tax policies, since the emergence of the Lebanese state: the real estate sector enjoys absolute protection as one of the “successful” sectors of the national rent-based economy. Real estate tax policies in Lebanon are based on the imposition of low taxes, taxes on the use of the property – except in the case of an improvement tax – and not on its vacancy or non-use. Thus, the real estate tax framework in Lebanon remains very limited and highly centralized, as the introduction of taxes into the state treasury and their redistribution limits the possibility of allocating them for specific and clear purposes such as housing. On the other hand, the collection process is slow and easy to disavow. Additionally, the process of estimating real estate prices is inaccurate.
In order to achieve a fair real estate tax system and address the commodification of land, emphasis should be placed on the possibility of reducing the practices of real estate speculation through the imposition of fair tax systems on property, and on the profits resulting from real estate speculation, in addition to strict taxes on apartments and vacant land, and other measures.
Promotion of non-individual tenure
Land tenure is the relationship, governed by law or custom, between people, whether individuals or groups, with respect to land and the way it is owned and used. Thus, tenure is essentially about the means by which land is accessed and relates to the rights in kind of who can access the land and how to use it. Alternative types of individual tenure are vital to the realization of the right to housing, with collective land tenure systems playing a key role in the realization of the right to the city and spatial justice based on the social function of the land. Forms of collective, customary and cooperative tenure—that is, non-individual—are diverse and have proven effective in accessing housing within and around cities in different parts of the world.
First, non-individual tenure patterns existing in Lebanon must be protected, rather than combated, including Amiri lands and co-owned land where construction laws make it difficult to build housing. Collective patterns of access to housing, such as housing cooperatives, must be promoted and new ones developed based on global and regional experiences.
Strengthening land administration and civic organization
In Lebanon, access to adequate and affordable housing is primarily an urban challenge: Cities are home to about 88.5% of Lebanon’s population, and the scarcity of adequate housing is particularly acute in greater Beirut and other major cities (such as Tripoli, Saida, Tyre and Zahle), which together comprise 64% of the country’s population. According to a study of the Comprehensive Plan for the Arrangement of Lebanese Lands, urban expansion between 2000 and 2030 will increase by between 42% and 50% for existing built-up areas. The comprehensive plan, issued by the 2009 decree, outlines the urban areas to be adopted in the urbanization process. In order to verify that this aforementioned urban expansion does not harm the land, adapts to nature and its features, and does not exacerbate the consequences of climate change, and takes into account the local heritage, local social and natural features, and future housing needs at the same time, activating land management and urban planning structures becomes a priority. This should happen through implementing the Comprehensive Plan, developing new guiding plans for major cities that complement each other, taking into account the archaeological and historical heritage to be protected, as well as opportunities offered by each city individually, and the extensions whose cohesion must be ensured through a comprehensive design of basic networks capable of producing urban movement that is not prohibitive to society, as well as addressing climate change.
Rehabilitation of decaying neighborhoods in large cities
Several factors, including those related to the legal framework for public safety and restoration, and those related to natural conditions and wars, have led to the deterioration of entire neighborhoods – especially in major cities – and the mismanagement and lack of maintenance of buildings. Adopting an integrated, people-centred neighborhood rehabilitation policy is crucial to revitalizing these densely populated areas. Careful attention must be paid to maintaining current inventory for affordable rentals for current residents.
Therefore, integrated programs must be adopted to rehabilitate neighborhoods, including all dimensions of urban development, such as local economic development, transportation, heritage protection, rehabilitation of public places, infrastructure and green spaces development, and prevention of the consequences of climate change. It is worth focusing on public safety by securing the structural safety of existing buildings, incorporating this element into the renovation strategy, and taking into account the current legal imbalance related to this issue.
Additionally, fair routes used to resolve housing, land and property disputes and ensure security of tenure should be an integral part of the strategy to rehabilitate deteriorating neighbourhoods. This necessitates the establishment of a coordination framework to organize actors in the field of policies, tools and interventions in the rehabilitation of degraded historical urban areas.
In this regard, local authorities, including municipalities and unions of municipalities, must apply and use legal frameworks for urban planning in the public interest and create opportunities for affordable housing development.